We left Santa Barbara's charms for Santa Catalina island and had a little wind which we used to try the spinnaker. We arrived after dark in Catalina's west harbor. After hand steering all day, a nice steak dinner aboard was more than welcome. The next day, the captain stayed aboard to fool with chartplotter and toilet issues while the rest of us explored the little town of Two Harbors on Catalina and availed ourselves of the laundry, shower, and cafe. Since it was off season, we had the place practically to ourselves. It was very nice.
The next day we got an early start and found that the chartplotter had fumbled the radar heading and it was confusing to say the least in the dark. When the sun rose, the fog moved in, so we didn't see anything until the afternoon, but we'd fixed the radar heading by this time, so we could see what was ahead of us in the fog. We were in an area heavily used for military exercises and we had a cannon report across the bow which the captain managed to sleep through. Eventually the wind came up and we could practice the wing and wing rig. We needed to make some time to get to San Diego, so we didn't sail for long. We maneuvered through the military ships outside San Diego and made it to the Police Dock around 8:30.
We are leaving San Diego on October 27 with the 15th annual Baja Haha cruisers rally and there's lots to be done beforehand. We rented a car, anchored in Glorietta Bay, and found an Internet cafe since we can't connect to a network from the boat for some reason. We are anchored off lovely Coronado, home of the Hotel Del Coronado. It's a cutesy town, but a lot of our business takes us across the bridge to downtown San Diego where the marine supply business are.
The weather is warm; we have wheels; it's good to stay put for a few days.
